Nick's fist pumpkin

Seeing as how we are more than a week behind most of the family we thought it was about time to carve our pumpkin. Having chosen it specificly because we thought that Nick would fit inside we couldn't pass up the chance to dress him up for the blog. Although he wouldn't let us paint his face unless he was eating, we had lots of fun.

Halloween at the Crowl's

This past week we had four Halloween parties. We had the church Trunk or Treat on Wednesday night. A family party on Friday night. An Adult's only party on Saturday night. And a party on Sunday afternoon that we didn't go to.
The trunk or treat started with a pot luck soup, chili, or bread . The kids wore their costumes, Austin was Spiderman, Layla a dog, and Ryan was Batman. For some reason we don't have any pictures of Ryan in his costume. I will be sure to get some tomorrow. I wore a black sweater and jeans along with cat ears and a tail. I drew eyeliner whiskers on my cheeks. All of the Primary were fascinated that I was "dressed up."
Our party Friday night was fun. They had a donut eating contest where they hung donuts at nose level and you had to eat them without using your hands. Jason played, but didn't win. I know that if I had played I would have won because of my Richards genes. They had a mad scientist who let the kids feel intestines and brains. He built a monster that came alive and sprayed silly string all over the kids. Austin freaked out and was scared half to death!
Saturday night mom and dad came over and sat with the kids so Jason and I could go to the adult's only party. Mom and dad had an interesting experience with our kids who would not go to sleep. They did get a chance to sneak outside and soak in the hot tub for a while. (Any and all of you are welcome to come and do the same.) The party was interesting, to say the least, and I was grateful when it was time to leave. It was a BYOB party.

Halloween fun in OK

Some pictures of our celebrating.

Happy Halloween!

We've had many activities this week, and it's not even Halloween, yet. Here we are in our costumes: Knight and Lady, Butterfly, Superman and Spiderman. We'd love to see everyone else in costume as well. Happy Halloween!

Halloween Party

We had a Halloween party. It was lots of fun and we took lots of pictures. Here are some of them.

Crowl Family Pictures

Yesterday we got together with Jason's family and took a family picture. That means his parents, younger sister Emily 13, and brother David 8. Then our family. Allison (his sister) her husband, Dan, their two daughters Kendra (5) and Lexi. Then Katie (his sister) and her husband Jameson. Anyway, it was really nice to all be together. Allison and family live in Pennsylvania about an hour away. Katie and her husband live in Frederick about 2hours away, they will be going to BYU Idaho in November. We are not sure when we will all be together again.
It was a lot of fun. The photographer had a hard time figuring out who went with who and who all the children belonged to. Patti and Don look too young to have kids Jason's age, and David being just a couple years older than his niece and nephew didn't help. Layla would not take her hand off her eyes.
I hope that we get to do this again someday too!
The Original Crowl family is wearing Maroon
The next generation Crowl family is in blue
The Testerman Family is in purple
The Monson Family is in black

Chunky Baby

Day before yesterday, Laura and Nick went to the doctor and they said that Nick weighs 13 Lbs 14oz/90%. What's best about that is he's 23.5in long which is only 50% He's not big he's fat. On top of that his head is only 25% so he's got a tiny head. Here are some more pictures of him and Andy playing the fool.

Orr Family Farm

We went to a farm with a pumpkin patch, pony ride, train ride, hay ride, petting zoo, and other fun things. It was so much fun! Here are some pictures. If you want to see more you can go to our blog.

Pictures from our visit with Andy and Laura!

Growing Up, Barely Surviving

Ryan has been learning and growing a lot. We are not as prepared for him as we should be. He has fallen down the stairs twice now...the second time I didn't even realize that he had fallen, I just noticed that his cry seemed muted somehow. I went to look at him and he was sitting at the bottom of the stairs. So I finally put a gate up, but didn't latch it securely. He pulled that over on him. He eats everything he finds on the floor, which all of you know is a lot at our house. Heavenly Father must have made babies very strong to survive.
A month or so ago Austin and Layla were jumping around in their room. Austin started crying and Jason went in to see what was wrong. Austin said he fell and bumped his head and would not stop crying, so Jason told him to go to bed and left. After a few minutes I went in and told him to calm down that he was okay. He still would not stop crying so I got ready to leave when I noticed blood all over his pillow! He had cracked the back of his head open. We put gauze on it and wrapped it up. Of course Layla had to have a "hat" on too!
Once again, it is amazing that my kids survive! Anyone else as negligent?

The boys. Last night Mike and I were thinking about what we should be for Halloween. Will is going to be an elephant. Isaac has two choices--a "sweet pea" or a pumpkin, and I am going to be a cow, which is how I feel these days ;). We aren't sure what Mike should be. Maybe a carrot or a raisin, or a sheriff, or a pirate. What should he be? What are you all going to be? Are you going to dress up mom and dad? I think that would be funny!

Here are some more pictures of Nic. I remember dad saying that they'll suck on anything you stick near their mouth and sure enough...
That's our sweet love seat from the yard sale weekend before last that came in a couch/love seat set. I really liked reading everything about your family Mandy. It's nice to know what's going on with everyone. With that, I'm done
Andy, Laura and Nicolas.

Will's learning to use new utensils.....yikes!

Pitcher's Week

I thought I would respond to Adrianne, even though I have nothing exciting to share. Last week Braden went to his first preschool class. We are in a group of 8 kids in the ward and each Wednesday we meet at a different persons house. The kids stay for their preschool for 2 hours and learn about a specific letter in the alphabet. My turn is not until November, the letter I. He had a great time there, and I enjoyed my time running errands with just one child.
The boys also got haircuts. They asked what I wanted, I said short. It is very short. For those familiar with the guard numbers, they used a #4 all over their heads. They look very cute, but it took a while to get used to.
Jess and I have become ebay addicts, selling some things together. Luckily it is over and we feel good about what we have done. Now we need to stop compulsively checking ebay.
Mikayla has recently learned to tie her shoes, which is a great help for us all.
Tomorrow, Mike will be doing a Moot Court. He has a case, a partner and they have prepared and written a brief. They will go up against another partnership and argue one side of the case. On Tuesday they will face a different partnership and argue the other side of the case. The judges will be teachers and lawyers from in town, one of them Mike's boss. The two final winning teams will get to argue before the Supreme Court of North Dakota. The Supreme Court will be in town for a case this week. Mike worked on it this summer and so he will get to sit up with the lawyers during the whole thing. For those who don't know, that is Cool!!
We have almost run out of food... I have been trying to change my shopping day to Wednesday and haven't planned very well. I will have to go tomorrow. Luckily Mike brought home pie from the preisthood session last night, and ice cream, or we would have to go without dessert!!! How tragic would that be! Also, for those who are trying to be health conscious, I have discovered that you can bake Mom's chimichangas, rather than deep fry and they are still very yummy.
Last night we went over to the new Wellness Center on campus. It's a gym. I got a spouse pass and will now be going there in the mornings to exercise. It has gotten too cold in the mornings to run outside. I am about 10 pounds away from my goal weight!!!
Well, now that you know more than you ever wanted to know, I'd love to know what everyone else is up to.